[Editorial] Open Uri Party’s “Pragmatic Line” is Reasonable

It has been disclosed that the pragmatic factions in Open Uri Party have won a clear victory over the progressive, reformation-first politicians at the elected assemblymen’s workshop of the Open Uri Party. This is a reasonable movement. Considering the flow of status quo and the reality that we face, people regard the livelihood situation as the most urgent pending problem.

Surely, reformation should be carried out. The conflicts over ideologies are sometimes necessary. However, everything has its front and rear and its slowness and quickness. As a majority of Parliament, the Open Uri Party should ask itself which task should receive the priority among these quagmires of unstable economy and social discords. The reformation should be implemented step-by-step by asking for the people’s mutual agreement.

During teamwork, some young assemblymen focused on the importance of the sensitive, ideological issues of reformations such as the repeal of security law, troop dispatch to Iraq, and social reformation in order to differentiate them from the conservative Grand National Party. However, the differences should be unveiled based on the “livelihood competition,” which matters as to whether a certain policy can exalt the livelihood of people, rather than the “reformation competition.” At this standpoint, the statement of the Uri Party’s chief, Jung Dong-young, “I do not assent to the recognitions that reformation is the same to progressionism and pragmatism cannot drive forward a reformation,” can be assessed as respectable.

The political line of pragmatism should be immediately put into action rather than remaining as a void statement. The 17th National Parliament should be the first opportunity for proving this theory as positive. The Open Uri Party has declared that they will deal with the 50 urgent pending law bills’ legislation first as the parliament opens. Among these law bills, the fair transaction, fund management, national pension, electronic banking transaction, and debtor resuscitation laws should have been managed at the 16th National Parliament.

Freeing itself from the wasteful conflicts over ideologies and reformation discords with the spirit of pragmatism, the Open Uri Party should pass these bills smoothly using conversation with the opposition parties. At that moment, people will start having confidence in the Uri Party.